Mexico earthquake: Searches could last weeks

Ed Lavandera
By Jason Hanna, Rosa Flores and Ed Lavandera, CNN
Updated 1:35 AM EDT, Sat September 23, 2017
02:10 - Source: CNN
Frenzy as people are heard trapped under rubble

Story highlights

Man trapped for 17 hours with broken leg says he never lost faith he would be rescued

Official says searches for possible survivors could last for two more weeks

Mexico City CNN  — 

“This is a tragedy,” said volunteer Ivan Ramos. “It’s kids. It will take a long time to heal.”

The good news, rescuers told Navarro and other relatives of the missing: Heat-sensing equipment indicates people may be alive in pockets of space amid the rubble of what had been a seven-story building.

The bad: Searchers have to move slowly and delicately, because the wreckage is unstable and could collapse further.

Relatives estimate up to 50 people were in the building along Avenida Alvaro Obregon in west-central Mexico City when the quake hit Tuesday. Family members have waited nearby ever since – some of them staying overnight in tents – monitoring the search and hoping for the best.

Similar scenes have been playing out across central Mexico as volunteers joined trained search and rescue workers to try to reach possible survivors and clear rubble, days after the quake that officials say killed more than 300 people.

Navarro, who believes his brother, Jesus, was in the building at Avenida Alvaro Obregon, said rescuers told relatives that they haven’t made contact with anyone inside, and they’re approaching the site cautiously.

“If we make one wrong move, the (pockets of space where people might be) will collapse,” Navarro said, citing what rescuers told him.

Relatives of missing people wait for news in front of a collapsed building in Mexico City on Friday, September 22. A magnitude 7.1 quake <a href="http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/09/world/mexico-quake-cnnphotos/" target="_blank">hit central Mexico</a> three days earlier.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
YURI CORTEZ/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Relatives of missing people wait for news in front of a collapsed building in Mexico City on Friday, September 22. A magnitude 7.1 quake hit central Mexico three days earlier.
Rescue workers search for survivors Thursday, September 21, at a collapsed apartment building in Mexico City.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Natacha Pisarenko/AP
Rescue workers search for survivors Thursday, September 21, at a collapsed apartment building in Mexico City.
A religious statue is salvaged from a former convent that was heavily damaged in Tlayacapan, Mexico. This was the second earthquake to hit Mexico in two weeks. A magnitude 8.1 quake <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/08/americas/gallery/mexico-earthquake-2017/index.html" target="_blank">struck off the country's southern coast</a> on September 8.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
A religious statue is salvaged from a former convent that was heavily damaged in Tlayacapan, Mexico. This was the second earthquake to hit Mexico in two weeks. A magnitude 8.1 quake struck off the country's southern coast on September 8.
A wall is damaged at a home in Tlayacapan on Wednesday, September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
A wall is damaged at a home in Tlayacapan on Wednesday, September 20.
Volunteers organize donations in Mexico City on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
The Washington Post/Getty Images
Volunteers organize donations in Mexico City on September 20.
Rescuers in Mexico City work to save a child <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/20/americas/mexico-city-girl-trapped-school/index.html" target="_blank">trapped inside the Enrique Rebsamen elementary school </a>on September 20. Rescue workers said they believed they'd made contact with a girl trapped in the rubble at the school. But by the next afternoon, navy official Angel Enrique Sarmiento said all the school's children had been accounted for and there was no student in the rubble. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/21/americas/mexico-earthquake/index.html" target="_blank">He apologized</a> for the confusion.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Marco Ugarte/AP
Rescuers in Mexico City work to save a child trapped inside the Enrique Rebsamen elementary school on September 20. Rescue workers said they believed they'd made contact with a girl trapped in the rubble at the school. But by the next afternoon, navy official Angel Enrique Sarmiento said all the school's children had been accounted for and there was no student in the rubble. He apologized for the confusion.
Men carry beams of wood to offer help in Mexico City's Roma neighborhood on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Men carry beams of wood to offer help in Mexico City's Roma neighborhood on September 20.
Families prepare to sleep under tarps outside their quake-damaged building in Mexico City on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Families prepare to sleep under tarps outside their quake-damaged building in Mexico City on September 20.
Rescuers and firefighters lower a corpse from a house in Mexico City on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
VICTOR GALINDO/AFP/Getty Images
Rescuers and firefighters lower a corpse from a house in Mexico City on September 20.
Volunteers and rescue workers search for people trapped inside the Enrique Rebsamen school on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Miguel Tovar/AP
Volunteers and rescue workers search for people trapped inside the Enrique Rebsamen school on September 20.
A volunteer in Mexico City asks for silence as a flattened building is searched for survivors on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images
A volunteer in Mexico City asks for silence as a flattened building is searched for survivors on September 20.
Members of the Mexican Army nap September 20 after assisting in search-and-rescue missions in Mexico City.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Members of the Mexican Army nap September 20 after assisting in search-and-rescue missions in Mexico City.
People look for survivors in Mexico City on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Francois Pesant/Polaris/Newscom
People look for survivors in Mexico City on September 20.
A man walks his bike past a partially collapsed building in Jojutla on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
A man walks his bike past a partially collapsed building in Jojutla on September 20.
Volunteers arrange food and other donated supplies at a distribution point in Mexico City on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images
Volunteers arrange food and other donated supplies at a distribution point in Mexico City on September 20.
Children's toys are seen in a damaged building in Mexico City on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images
Children's toys are seen in a damaged building in Mexico City on September 20.
A survivor is pulled out of rubble in Mexico City on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty Images
A survivor is pulled out of rubble in Mexico City on September 20.
People sleep on the street next to damaged homes in Jojutla on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
People sleep on the street next to damaged homes in Jojutla on September 20.
Soldiers remove debris from a collapsed building in Mexico City on September 20.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Manuel Velasquez/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Soldiers remove debris from a collapsed building in Mexico City on September 20.
An injured person is carried away after being rescued in Mexico City on Tuesday, September 19. The earthquake happened on the anniversary of a 1985 quake that killed an estimated 9,500 people in and around Mexico City.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Miguel Tovar/AP
An injured person is carried away after being rescued in Mexico City on Tuesday, September 19. The earthquake happened on the anniversary of a 1985 quake that killed an estimated 9,500 people in and around Mexico City.
Rescue workers remove rubble from a Mexico City building on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images
Rescue workers remove rubble from a Mexico City building on September 19.
Rescue workers in Mexico City search for people trapped inside the collapsed Enrique Rebsamen school on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Carlos Cisneros/AP
Rescue workers in Mexico City search for people trapped inside the collapsed Enrique Rebsamen school on September 19.
A man comforts a student outside a school in Mexico City on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
A man comforts a student outside a school in Mexico City on September 19.
A police officer runs toward the site where a building collapsed in Mexico City on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images
A police officer runs toward the site where a building collapsed in Mexico City on September 19.
Rescue workers and volunteers search a collapsed building in Mexico City on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Eduardo Verdugo/AP
Rescue workers and volunteers search a collapsed building in Mexico City on September 19.
A man is rescued under rubble in Mexico City's Condesa area on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Pablo Ramos/AP
A man is rescued under rubble in Mexico City's Condesa area on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
A woman's crushed body hangs from a collapsed building in Mexico City on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Marco Ugarte/AP
A woman's crushed body hangs from a collapsed building in Mexico City on September 19.
Recovery efforts take place at the collapse of a residential building in Mexico City on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Courtesy Lior Sperandeo/CNN Exclusive
Recovery efforts take place at the collapse of a residential building in Mexico City on September 19.
The quake damaged the Jojutla Municipal Palace.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Carlos Rodriguez/AP
The quake damaged the Jojutla Municipal Palace.
A search goes on at the scene of a collapsed building in Mexico City's Del Valle neighborhood on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Miguel Tovar/AP
A search goes on at the scene of a collapsed building in Mexico City's Del Valle neighborhood on September 19.
Emergency workers remove debris as they search for survivors in Mexico City on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images
Emergency workers remove debris as they search for survivors in Mexico City on September 19.
People react in Mexico City just after the quake hit.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
People react in Mexico City just after the quake hit.
People gather on a Mexico City street after office buildings were evacuated because of the quake.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
People gather on a Mexico City street after office buildings were evacuated because of the quake.
A building is damaged in Mexico City on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
A building is damaged in Mexico City on September 19.
A woman in Mexico City cries as she tries to reach people on her cell phone after the quake.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Marco Ugarte/AP
A woman in Mexico City cries as she tries to reach people on her cell phone after the quake.
Patients from a Mexico City hospital receive treatment outside after the hospital was evacuated on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Jose Mendez/EPA
Patients from a Mexico City hospital receive treatment outside after the hospital was evacuated on September 19.
A woman in Mexico City reacts after the quake.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
A woman in Mexico City reacts after the quake.
People remove debris off a building that collapsed in Mexico City.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images
People remove debris off a building that collapsed in Mexico City.
A car is crushed by debris in Mexico City on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images
A car is crushed by debris in Mexico City on September 19.
A woman receives medical assistance after she was injured in Mexico City on September 19.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Omar Torres/AFP/Getty Images
A woman receives medical assistance after she was injured in Mexico City on September 19.
People stand inside a Mexico City building that collapsed in the quake.
Photos: Deadly earthquake rocks central Mexico
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
People stand inside a Mexico City building that collapsed in the quake.

17 hours in the rubble

Martin Mendez can laugh now. When the earthquake brought down the Mexico City building in which the locksmith was working, Mendez was trapped for 17 hours, overwhelmed by the pain of a broken bone and worried his life-sustaining air would run out. Three women tumbled around or on him. One woman fell with such force his right leg was broken.

A building is in ruins in Jojutla, Mexico after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday. The rush of aid and the sense of solidarity that helped lift Mexico City following the deadly earthquake this week have spread outside the Mexican capitol. Convoys of volunteers have traveled to small towns in central Mexico that were closer to the epicenter of Tuesday's 7.1-magnitude earthquake.
A building is in ruins in Jojutla, Mexico after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday. The rush of aid and the sense of solidarity that helped lift Mexico City following the deadly earthquake this week have spread outside the Mexican capitol. Convoys of volunteers have traveled to small towns in central Mexico that were closer to the epicenter of Tuesday's 7.1-magnitude earthquake.
Natalie Gallón/CNN

Mexican town shakes off shock after quake, begins to move forward

He is in a hospital now, and he recounted his ordeal to CNN on Friday.

“We had to hold on,” he said. The four calmed each other as the hours passed.

Rescuers would yell, “Is anyone in there alive?” but they couldn’t hear the group’s frantic replies.

Diana Pacheco texted her husband, told him where they were. Still no rescue.

How to help earthquake victims in Mexico

Mendez said they feared the air would run out. But he kept his faith.

“I always believed I was going to get out alive,” he said.

On Wednesday morning, they were pulled out.

Search to continue as long as there is hope

The earthquake turned dozens of buildings in central Mexico into dust and debris.

The temblor was the second major one to hit the country in less than two weeks, following a magnitude-8.1 earthquake farther south on September 8, killing nearly 100 people. Tuesday’s quake hit hours after a citywide drill on the anniversary of the 1985 earthquake that killed an estimated 9,500 people in and around Mexico City.

Search and rescue efforts could last “for at least two more weeks,” Luis Felipe Puente, Mexico’s civil protection coordinator, told CNN affiliate Foro TV on Friday.

“Our first phase is rescue and humanitarian aid,” Puente said. “Until we are absolutely certain that there are no more people missing, we will continue our search and rescue mission.”

‘We brought wheelbarrows, shovels, mallets’

Many rescue operations continued through the weekend, including at a Mexico City elementary school where 25 people – including 19 children – had died. Mexican navy officials monitoring the operation walked back earlier reports that rescuers had made contact with a girl trapped alive at the school, but they haven’t ruled out that someone else could be found in the debris.

And on Sunday, according to the Mexican navy, the body of an adult woman was recovered from the rubble that had been the school.

Search teams from Israel, Japan and the United States joined the rescue efforts. They spent a lot of time removing debris from around the ventilation duct work.

Scene outside a textile factory in Mexico City's Obrera neighborhood where at least 20 died in collapse.
Scene outside a textile factory in Mexico City's Obrera neighborhood where at least 20 died in collapse.
Kara Fox/CNN

Throughout the region, buses carried volunteers from Mexico and beyond to disaster sites, where they bolstered search-and-rescue efforts. People formed human chains to pass along supplies and remove chunks of lumber and concrete.

Volunteer Jorge Carreño left Mexico City for the small town of Jojutla, where some homes had collapsed. There, human chains spanning entire blocks worked Thursday, carrying buckets full of debris away from collapsed homes.

“We brought wheelbarrows, shovels, mallets. Everybody has hard hats, gloves and is ready to help,” Carreño told CNN.

A building is in ruins in Jojutla, Mexico, after Tuesday's quake.
A building is in ruins in Jojutla, Mexico, after Tuesday's quake.
Natalie Gallón/CNN

President Enrique Peña Nieto declared a national emergency, and the country is observing three days of national mourning. An unaccounted number of people are staying at shelters around the capital after losing their homes. Schools have closed indefinitely, and millions initially were without power.

In all, 154 deaths were reported in Mexico City, one of North America’s most populous metropolises with more than 21 million people. Elsewhere, 73 deaths were reported in Morelos state, 45 in Puebla state, 13 in the state of Mexico, six in Guerrero state and one in Oaxaca state.

CNN’s Rosa Flores reported from Mexico City, and Jason Hanna wrote from Atlanta. CNN’s Cassandra Santiago, Mariano Castillo, Ivan Watson, Flora Charner, Kara Fox, Elwyn Lopez and Nicole Chavez contributed to this report.